Saturday, October 26, 2013

Well check that one off my bucket list! Today I ran a half marathon! Truth: it's only been on my bucket list since August when AnnaMarie mentioned she felt like she ought to have done something big to commemorate her 30th birthday, like a half marathon! Then I thought, hey, maybe I should do something big to commemorate my 30th birthday, like a half marathon! So today, I did it!

I've been training since finishing our 5K at the end of August, and it's been fun and rewarding and hard. Usually I would do smalle r runs 3 times a week and then a longer run on Saturdays. It started out great, but once my long runs got to about 10 miles, they started getting pretty painful towards the end. I like running those long runs, but I think from now on I'll max out at like 9 miles. Michael has been so supportive and encouraging, so I am really grateful for his help in all of this!

I have been sick this past week, and I was fairly lazy the week before, not realizing I would be sick this week! So I skipped my long run last Saturday and I ended up feeling better just in time for my race today. A miracle! But I was a little worried about how it would go, since I slacked off on my training at the end AND I was just coming off of being sick. Michael made sure I ate a good dinner (steak burritos with peach mango salsa, made by him!) and sent me off to bed early and made sure I got enough sleep and this morning I carpooled to the race with my friend, Jason.

Once I got there, headed off to find Ken and Kelly, who also ran the race. We hung out briefly, but then they headed up towards the front of the start (they are fast) and so did Jason, and so I headed back to run with my 11:30 pace people. It was nice chatting with the people around me and checking out all of the costumes. The monster dash is a fun race, lots of people dress up, and it was very entertaining. I didn't dress up. I thought it would be hard enough for me to just finish, let alone finish in a costume :)

So, I started out chatting as I ran with a couple of people until about mile 2 when I decided they were going a little to slow for me, so I said goodbye, turned on my music and headed off. It was pretty chilly, but by that point I was feeling good and warmed up. The trees were beautiful and the breeze felt nice, and it was starting to be fun. But after about mile 6 it wasn't feeling fun anymore. Then it just was feeling hard, which I'm blaming on being sick... But I kept on, even though it was getting tough.

At about mile 10 I started really thinking about how hard it was. The course was the same as the 10 mile race course, and at that point they all got to cross their finish line, and I was thinking about how I still had 3 more grueling miles. And I started thinking that this was the hardest thing I have ever done. But then I remembered MBA school. And being pregnant 4 times. And birthing 4 children. And I decided it wasn't the hardest thing, but it was still REALLY hard. And to make matters worse, at 11 miles there was a really gigantic hill. 11.5 miles, there was another big hill, and it made me really angry. And then I made it up the hills and I had one mile left, and I started crying I was so happy.

Coming down the home stretch, I saw Kelly and Ken cheering me on. It really meant a lot to me. And as I crossed the finish line, there were Michael and the boys and my friend Tiffany, all there to cheer for me and congratulate me. It was so nice to have them there, and I cried again, I was so happy. But also so tired and exhausted. And in pain. But mostly happy. My official time was 2 hours, 30 minutes and 54 seconds. I passed 677 people and was passed by 75 people. I got 4682nd place overall out of 5817! But I wasn't last! Woo!

We took a few pictures and then headed back home. There was some traffic, so it took a while to get home, and then I wanted nothing more to sit in a hot shower and maybe throw up. After the shower, Michael suggested I have some chocolate milk or peanut butter, but I opted for a nap instead. Then I woke up with an urgent need for chocolate milk and peanut butter :)

It wasn't until later when I was wearing my fancy medal which is also a belt buckle and my fancy new monster dash jacket that I felt just a little bit like a rockstar. I'm pretty proud of myself. It was a great day!

Me and Kelly right before the race:

While we still had some energy:

Me coming down the home stretch! This one is from Kelly's phone:

These are form Michael who was waiting just after the finish line:

Crossing the finish line:

Seeing Michael and the boys:

Me and Kelly after the race. They were so good to wait around for like 45 minutes for me!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Hi there! Well, it has been a fun-filled week around the Moore household. Last weekend we took a last-minute trip to Grand Forks to visit my parents' house and have an impromptu Walton Family reunion. It was amazing and crazy and wonderful. Then we drove home on Sunday and Michael turned 32 on Monday!

Poor Michael didn't get much of a birthday celebration from me, since on Sunday I started coming down with some kind of nasty bug and I was feeling pretty terrible all week. But I managed to get the house cleaned up, dinner made, and his favorite cake baked, and we had AnnaMarie and the gang over to celebrate. I'm so grateful for Michael and the wonderful husband and father he is. He is working SO hard with his job, school, church responsibilities and family responsibilities. He hardly ever complains, and always has a fun idea to do with the kids or some quiet little way to serve me. He is the best. Happy Birthday, Michael, we love you!

The rest of the week was kind of a blur. I napped as often as possible, haven't touched my makeup bag or blow dryer since Saturday(finally got back on the bandwagon today), haven't run AT ALL (my half marathon is tomorrow...), put on a lot of movies for the kids, and went to bed early most every night. But I'm finally feeling better today! SO I hope it sticks long enough for me to make it through my race tomorrow!

One great thing about this week has been Ryan's outfit choices. He's continued on his fashion spree all week and it always makes me smile. I went out yesterday to acquire some more accessories so he could have some fun with it, and now Calvin has joined the ranks. It's pretty fun to see what they come up with. Funny boys!

And lastly, here are a few things about this week that I want to never ever forget:

Ryan beating me out to the car so he could start scraping the frost off of the windows for me.

Sophie warning me to be careful when I climbed in the back of the car so I don't hit my head like I did last time because she didn't want me to be sad (I might have cried the last time I did it, it really hurt!)

Calvin figuring out how to get another movie started all by himself so he and Sophie wouldn't have to wake me up.

Michael making a beautiful AND delicious dinner last night--with a smile on his face--after getting home from work and only having 7 hours of combined sleep over the last 2 days since I didn't really feel up to it.

Hannah waking up from her nap JUST as I was laying down for mine, only to give me the biggest, smiley-est happy faces of her life, eat for 5 minutes, and then go back to sleep for 3 hours. Best baby ever award!

How much fun it was to go to Target, just me and my sisters, and walk around having fun together. I love them. I wish we could be together more often.

How I LOVE playing canasta with my parents and sisters. It just feels deep down good to laugh and have fun together.

Here are some pictures!

Heading through the cornfield for family pictures on Saturday!

Cora!

Luke and Ryan being funny:

Me and Michael and Hannah:

Me with my Cora Caroline and Danica with her Hannah Danica:

Kelly and Danica with the babies:

Cora is a funny girl!

Love this one of Hannah and Danica. Beautiful girls!

Group shot from my mom's phone. We'll get the real ones later:

Earlier this week Sophie went to play at a friend's house and I had Calvin and Hannah at home. Calvin had some great ideas, and it was a fun afternoon, despite being sick. Here he is, floating a paper shark and a paper boat with a lego guy riding on it. And making some waves:

Michael's birthday celebration:

Ryan made him a paper airplane card. Here he is, trying it out:

And Ryan gave him some money.

And so did Katie! Great minds think alike.

Singing "Happy Birthday":

Blowing out the candles:

One night I was doing something on the stove and the fire alarm went off. I thought we dodged a bullet since none of the kids woke up right away. It was like 11. But then a few minutes later, both of these little sweeties wandered out at the same time, needing a snuggle from their daddy. It was really sweet.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Ryan came out of his room dressed like this today. Michael found him a bolo tie to complete the look. I love Ryan! He is a hoot. He wouldn't admit it, but I'm pretty sure he's all gussied up because his teacher moved his seat to be right next to Isabelle.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Ryan keeps coming home from school these last few weeks talking about people from school who say they want to come over, or girls from school who like him, or girls from school that he likes, or buddies of his that he REALLY wants to have over to play. So, I decided to let him choose a few friends to invite over for a little second graders Halloween party (plus AnnaMarie and the gang--no party is complete without them)! A few being the key phrase. And also, I didn't tell him this, but I'm pretty sure this took the place of a birthday party this year.

But anyways, I made some creepy treats, put up a big spider web and let Ryan, Calvin, and Sophie stick a bunch of fake spiders on it, we played some fun games, and the kids had such a great time. It was nice. And the rain held off until the party was over, so we ate, played games, and ran around outside pretty much the whole time! Except for Calvin, who was having a hard time, and spent a lot of time inside building things with legos and trying to recruit Ryan's friends to come play with him :)

It was a beautiful day, though, and it was so nice to be outside. And second graders are seriously a lot of fun. I think Ryan gets a bum deal sometimes, being the oldest. He used to always be much older than his age, but this year he has caught up to himself. He is now seven, through and through, and I sometimes still treat him like I expect him to be a tiny adult. And then I get a little grumpy when I remember that he's seven. But today reminded me what a great age seven is. He and his friends were so much fun and were so easy to have over. It was awesome. Michael and I talked once again tonight about how we should let the kids have friends over more often. It was just a really fun afternoon.

And thank heavens Christy and AnnaMarie were there to hold Hannah. She did not like any other option. Maybe she was mad because I forgot to put her in her zebra costume.
Anyways, it was a great afternoon. And although Ryan's latest love interest didn't end up being able to make it, he still had a great time with good friends (and cousins!).

The spread of creepy treats. "Monster eyeball cookies", "shrunken punkins", "mummy dogs", "cauldron corn", "witch brooms" and some delicious chocolate cream pies by AnnaMarie! Oh, and "ghost guts" (i.e. milk) to drink! Tommy, by the way, did not like these spooky names, and it took him a while to want to try anything. It was funny.

Jane and Sophie, both being Rapunzel. I love these girls!

Enjoying snacks!

Calvin was amused by the shrunken punkins:

A bunch of princesses:

This was funny. Gabe the ninja decided to threaten to shoot Calvin with the little bow and arrow set. Gabe's form was pretty good, and he was pretty believable. So Calvin really started freaking out. But don't worry, that's Katie behind him with a baseball bat, coming to back him up. Cousins are the best.

Then Calvin got in a sword fight with the ninja. He lost. I had to take a picture, I just had to. I think it was the drooly vampire mouth.

Here we are about to play a skeleton relay race, where both teams are racing to correctly assemble a skeleton on the wall. But just check out Ryan in these pictures. He is SO melodramatic sometimes. It is funny. I'm not even sure what he was reacting to. I think I was just giving instructions...."So, then you put the skeleton on the wall and..." "NOOOOOOOO!"

Calvin makes good faces.

And so does Katie! Those vampire teeth are a good look, huh?

Calvin helping his team assemble the skeleton:

Ariel and the ninja learning that you can't connect a foot straight to a femur:

Ryan's team won. And Ryan rubbed it in. And that made Calvin cry on his bed for a solid 20 minutes. But only after we took some pictures:

I like how this one is waving:

This pretty much sums up Hannah's party experience:

Playing a witch's brew game where they make the potion by putting all of the ingredients into their cups with a straw:

Playing "shrinking island". Basically musical chairs with towels instead and when the music stops they all have to jump on the towel island (which gets smaller each time when you take away towels), and anyone with a foot in the water has to swim for shore or get eaten by sharks. I added in the swim for shore option when Sophie and Joey looked pretty panicked after "falling in".

Then we played "ghost grab" where everyone had a ghost attached to a string. One person was the grabber and had a giant bowl. All of the ghosts go in the middle of the circle, and when you count to three everyone tried to pull their ghost away before the person with the big bowl can trap them.

Happy kids!

Hannah liked eating the ghosts.

Then they ran around the backyard with the ghosts on strings and it kept them occupied for like an hour. Pretty great!

They also played tag. I love this picture. Look at their happy faces! Childhood is the best.

Cute Jane:

Calvin finally convinced everyone to come play legos:

Ryan with his second grade buddies, Grace, Vanessa and Gabe. So fun to have them!